Includes maps of the northwestern United States from various sources. Coverage is primarily focused on Washington, Pierce County, and Tacoma.

Includes posters created and displayed during World War I issued by various federal and non-profit organizations including the US Food Administration, the Red Cross, the American Library Association and others. Also included are British, Canadian, and French posters.

Includes booklets, manuscripts, theses and dissertations, reports, and other writings about Washington State. Also included are writings about and by Washington authors.

Includes publications by the California Joint Immigration Committee of San Francisco, newspaper clippings, government orders, proclamations, and other papers relating to a campaign in the 1920s and 1930s to bar Japanese people from West Coast states, a locally organized campaign to stop Japanese individuals from owning farmland, and the relocation and incarceration of Japanese citizens during World War II.

Includes local and regional cookbooks and recipes produced by community organizations, churches, and businesses.

Contains menus from area restaurants and local special events. Also included are several menus from ships.

Includes items created for a short term purpose that have been retained for their long term historical, informational, or research value. These include pamphlets and brochures, tickets, and event programs.

Postcards with a focus on the city of Tacoma including images of local buildings, landscapes,and people. Other postcards are from around the Puget Sound region and Washington state along with some national and international cards. Postcards are arranged either by named collection or by subject and feature a front and back image. Postcards feature black and white, color, and colorized photography plus sepia and text only formats.

Includes photographs covering a wide range of locations, events, buildings, and people that are not part of a specific photograph collection or created by an individual photographer.

Includes lantern slides and print photographs showing mountaineering and nature images collected by Don Cooper.

A collection of photographs by professional and amateur photographers throughout the years of the Washington State Fair/Puyallup Fair from 1900-2011. Original photograph collection is held by the Washington State Fair and not at Tacoma Public Library. First and last names of the photographers are listed when known. Unknown photographers have been filed in the decade in which it was taken.

Includes photos and documents related to the Vietnam War and the related anti-war movement. The photos are undated, documenting what appears to be the experience of soldiers, including portraits of Vietnamese people and group photos, and pictures of soldiers. The documents that are dated range from 1969-71, and consist of anti-war posters for events and rallies, many of them held by students at the University of Washington along with documents and letters from local organizations such as Tacoma Women for Peace.

A collection of sheet music that has to do with Tacoma, the Puget Sound region or Washington State that ranges from the 19th century to the late 20th century.

Includes materials related to World War II collected by Tacoma Public Library including reports, pamphlets, propaganda, maps, bulletins, and Tacoma war ration book. A photo biography of Adolf Hitler compiled by Joseph Goebbels for the German people titled "Adolf Hitler: Pictures from the Life of the Fuhrer" is also included.

The "Lost Tacoma" project was originally designed and conceived by archivist Jeanie Fisher. It includes blueprints and technical drawings of both proposed buildings in Tacoma which were never constructed and constructed buildings which are now demolished. This is a partial representation of the Lost Tacoma collection, constituting 116 of the total 560 blueprints across 26 locations. Digitization for this project was supported by a 2016 Pierce County Historic Preservation Grant.

Includes a collection of glass lantern slides and a set of the North American Indian. The Northwest Room’s set of The North American Indian consists of twenty individually bound books, each with an average of 250 pages and 75 images, and 20 accompanying portfolios, each with an average of 36 large image plates housed in each folding case.

Includes scrapbooks created by various individuals, families, organizations, and businesses. Some creators are unidentified. Scrapbooks may include photographs, newspaper clippings, writing, and ephemera.

Includes mostly mailers, flyers, newspaper clippings, sample ballots and voter guides from various political races in and around Tacoma and Pierce County as well as election races for state and federal positions. Material related to bond measures, levies, initiatives, propositions and referendums are also present. Series marked c. 1980-c. 1995 contain material sorted by the politician's last name.

Newspaper articles, pamphlets, flyers, reports, and other mass-produced publications compiled by Northwest Room staff and organized by subject matter.

The Tacoma-Pierce County Buildings Index contains information on Tacoma and Pierce County buildings found in Tacoma papers, local and national magazines, and in over 200 books on local history and architecture. Each source cited in the index is available to view in the Northwest Room.

Records in this index are organized according to address, and include information on the year built, style of construction (where the literature can agree), whether the building has been demolished, and whether it appears on any local, state, or national register of historic places. Architects, builders, and contractors are listed, when known. Families or companies that may have been housed in the building are listed with dates of occupation. The location of any building plans known to exist is also provided. The Tacoma-Pierce County Buildings Index does not cover parks, bridges, dams, docks, and other infrastructures.

For assistance in conducting historic building research, please reference the Northwest Room's Tacoma and Pierce County Home and Buildings Research Guide or contact us at nwr@tacomalibrary.org or (253) 280-2814.

Abbreviations used,
TNT = Tacoma News Tribune / Morning News Tribune / The News Tribune
TDL = Tacoma Daily Ledger
TDN = Tacoma Daily News
TNL = Tacoma News Ledger
T. Times = Tacoma Times
T. Weekly = Tacoma Weekly

The abbreviation (il) following a citation indicates that a photo or illustration accompanies the article cited.

These burial cards were produced by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) Agency under the Veterans' Grave Registration program in Pierce County, Washington. The range of dates spans from the mid-nineteenth century through the mid-twentieth century. A majority of the individuals listed on these cards are identified as veterans of the Civil War, but also included is the Spanish-American War, the Boer War, and World War I. The information on the cards contain the person's name, rank and organization in the military, what war they are a veteran of, along with the date/place enlisted and date/place discharged by the military. Additionally, the burial information includes the name and location of the cemetery; the grave number, location, and condition of the plot; and the date of the burial along with any marker information. Also included is the date, location, and cause of death, along with a line for name and address of next of kin. Not all fields are complete on all cards. The burial locations in Washington include Tacoma, Puyallup, Orting, Sumner, Spanaway, Roy, Alder, Fort Lewis, Fox Island, and Buckley.

Annual reports from the Puyallup Fire Department and Puyallup Police Department including notes on accomplishments, department statistics, personal/organization charts, union activities, and training reports, among other information.

Contains volumes 1 and 2 of the 1987 Puget Sound Environmental Atlas and the 1992 Update. Volumes 1 and 2 have corporate authors: Untied States Army Corps of Engineers, Puget Sound Water Quality Authority, United States Environmental Protection Agency, D. R. Systems Inc. and Evans-Hamilton Inc. The 1992 Update has corporate authors: Puget Sound Water Quality Authority, Washington State and Puget Sound Estuary Program.

Includes reports, studies, plans, and promotional materials related to the operations of the Port of Tacoma. Also included are "Master and Seamen Release Logs" from approximately 1910-1942.

Includes drafts, revisions, and finalized settlement documents, reports, minutes, press conference recordings, and other material related to the 1990 Land Claims Settlement reached between the Puyallup Tribe, the state of Washington, the city of Tacoma, Pierce County, private entities, and the federal government. Also included are extensive research files related to impacted lands and waterways, fishing rights, the history of the Puyallup Tribe, and other similar legal settlements.

Five scrapbooks of Senator Ralph Metcalf's column in the TNT chronicling his travels 1927-1936.

The Kalma Hagan Scrapbook includes pictures and newspaper clippings involving the Hawthorne neighborhood, the construction of the Tacoma Dome, and the aftermath of the construction.

These copies of the 1945 and 1946 Esquire's Jazz Book, published by Smith & Durrell, Inc. were owned by Marjorie Jane Windus during her time she worked in the Chicago Illinois Blue Note Jazz Club, from the 1940s and early 1950s. These books include autographs and messages from many prominent and lesser-known jazz musicians and singers from that time.

Includes four scrapbooks compiled by George Swasey and family containing photographs, report cards, newspaper clippings, programs, tickets, and other ephemera. Also included are drawings by Swasey.